FORMER Australia captain Ricky Ponting revealed that he was shocked at some of things that were revealed by Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith in their interviews that were broadcast on Fox Cricket on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test.

The banned duo were interviewed separately by Australia’s former teammate Adam Gilchrist and opened up about the events that unfolded in the Cape Town Test earlier this year, leading to the ball-tampering scandal that shook Australian cricket.

While Smith revealed that he the then-Cricket Australia heads had told the team ‘we don’t pay you to play, we pay you to win’, after losing to South Africa at Hobart, Bancroft spoke in detail about how David Warner had asked him to tamper with the ball.
Ponting, speaking to Channel 7, said he was very disappointed at the timing of the interviews.

“I was a bit shocked at some of the things I read,” he said. “I was very disappointed with the timing of it. Yesterday is the best day on the Australian cricket calendar and we’re reading and listening to all this stuff again, nine months later.”
Ponting also took aim at Bancroft for the interview, saying the player may have inadvertently hurt his brand more than rebuild it.

“I was disappointed with a few things. I just don’t think he needed to say some of the things he had to say, to be honest.

“Even the way he presented himself in that interview, I was disappointed with. He is trying to rebuild his brand and that sort of thing. Some of the things he’s had to say have actually done more damage to his brand than what had happened before,” Ponting said.
Former Australia batsman Michael Slater too weighed in with his opinion, going after Bancroft and saying he has now thrown Warner under the bus.

“The timing of it was wrong. I think there’s a strategy behind Steve Smith and Bancroft and Dave Warner – (it’s) off the radar at the moment.
They are all running some strategy to gain some respect from the public and their players,” Slater told Channel 7. “In those comments, he’s buried David Warner.

They had the chance way back when it happened to tell the truth about the situation. There is no use now coming back and saying something different than was said then. They all collectively said as a group that they were all involved, and now they are saying something very different.

“I don’t want to hear it. I know there’s an element of the public that would like to get to the bottom of it but in terms of a respectful comment on Dave Warner, there’s been none of that. It makes it untenable and they’ve buried him very quickly,” Slater concluded. (Cricbuzz)